Chapter 162

Chapter 162

Lancelot did not refuse; the enthusiasm of the people of Pokara was as scorching and irresistible as the weather here.

The two of them led their Windbreak Horses to one side, carefully pulling off the sizzling, oily skewers and feeding them to their horses' mouths.

Little Qing and Little Black were both very happy.

Occasionally eating human food was still a novel experience for them, something worth being happy about!

When it came to his pets' diet, Lorant usually preferred the convenience of giving them pre-prepared, nutritionally balanced pet food. However, he would occasionally treat them to a feast.

After all, these pets were creatures that had evolved from the terrifying 'monsters.' They were not delicate flowers that required careful nurturing.

They were sturdy trees, capable of surviving even if left in the wild.

Whether it was seasoned delicacies, fresh raw food, or even some dead branches, they could easily digest them with their powerful digestive systems.

And in small quantities, there would be no adverse effects.

Of course, a long-term diet of monotonous food would inevitably have some negative impact on their health.

Compared to those who barely had enough to eat and wore tattered clothes, gnawing on tree bark all day, none of them looked like robust calves.

"You haven't answered my question yet!" Lorant turned to look at Lancelot, his tone carrying an unwittingly coquettish note. "What do you mean by 'the entrances discovered so far'?"

Lancelot, munching on a skewer, narrowed his eyes and continued to tease him. "Guess where the undiscovered entrances might be if there are any."

"Where? Definitely not within human territory... Wait! The Black Forest?"

Lancelot smiled and patted Lorant's head, only to have his hand swatted away by the young man.

"Don't put your greasy hands on my head!" Lorant grumbled.

Lancelot chuckled. His right hand hadn't actually touched the skewer, but seeing Lorant's reaction, he deliberately moved closer, inviting two punches from Lorant.

The knight felt invigorated after taking the hits and nodded with a smug look. "Exactly, the Black Forest."

"Although we don't know how many entrances there are deep in the Black Forest, we can be certain that, given its vast area and the number of terrifying monsters, there must be over fifty small entrances."

Lancelot then grew serious. "If there are large entrances, they could be several times wider than the entrance at Pokara."

The entrance at Pokara was already as wide as a small plain. If the hidden entrances in the Black Forest were even larger, Lorant couldn't imagine what kind of place it would be.

Was it an entrance to the mountains? Or perhaps...

The mountains disappeared there...

What lies deep within the Black Forest?

Lancelot continued, "A long, long time ago, when intelligent races began to collectively defend against the monsters in the Lopulo Mountains, they realized they couldn't control all the entrances."

"Coincidentally, those who explored the Lopulo Mountains found a forest at the foot of this towering mountain range, stretching for thousands of miles."

"This forest was home to many terrifying monsters, which seemed to have settled there. The density of monsters inside the forest was much higher than outside."

"So, people decided to hide the problems they couldn't solve immediately."

"Thus, the Black Forest came into existence. Countless people used a great deal of magic to rapidly expand that forest and hide about a dozen entrances to the Lopulo Mountains within it."

"Do you know how big the Black Forest is?" Lancelot asked, turning to Lorant.

Lorant shook his head hesitantly. He realized he had never seen any detailed records of the Black Forest's size. It seemed this information had been deliberately omitted from the history accessible to the public.

"The Black Forest is probably larger than the combined territories of all intelligent races."

"Even with such a vast area, the number of monsters in the Black Forest is still astonishingly high and densely packed. So, there is still no authoritative evidence to determine exactly how many entrances lie deep within the forest," Lancelot explained.

His gaze drifted to the distance, lost in thought.

Lorant also stared at the bustling crowd on the street, lost in his own thoughts.

This world was far more dangerous than he had imagined.

After finishing their skewers, Lancelot helped Lorant back onto the Windbreak Horse and mounted himself.

The small stall they had visited was one of Lancelot's favorites during his previous stay in Pokara, so he had brought Lorant there to try it out.

They bought two colorful, plump fruits that looked like balloons. These fruits had a hard outer shell.

The vendors would crack open the hard shell to reveal a soft, resilient inner sac, then pierce it with a hollow straw to serve a delicious drink.

Lorant was drawn to it mainly because it was placed on a pile of ice, making it the perfect beverage on a hot summer night.

"The depths of the Black Forest..." Lorant mused, reflecting on everything Lancelot had said.

The mysterious Black Forest, the terrifying monsters, and the unknown size of the Lopulo Mountain entrances.

All of this would be revealed in the uninhabited region of Kamkuo.

Lorant couldn't help but feel a sense of anticipation. The land he was about to receive was surrounded by monsters, a dangerous and terrifying place.

He would have to fortify it, gradually clearing out the monsters and marking it as his own.

The thought was unexpectedly exhilarating!

After returning from Pokara, Lorant didn’t rest for long before he started working on another project.

That was the establishment of the Candy Rabbit Ranch.

At the same time, the cotton tree began to show signs of activity. Jeremy had been visiting the Animal Pet Shop more frequently, usually appearing here early in the morning and sitting under the cotton tree, lost in thought.

Regarding the cotton tree, Lorant proposed a hypothesis: if the flowers were picked immediately upon maturity without allowing them to bear fruit, would this plant not need to completely dissipate after one cycle of flowering and fruiting?

After hearing this idea, Jeremy pondered for a long time. For several days, he didn’t come to the Animal Pet Shop, presumably doing something else. A few days later, he rushed over excitedly to share his joy with Lorant.

"Lorant! What you said is feasible!" Jeremy danced around happily. "And with this method, the second batch of cotton matured twice as fast compared to the first!"

Lorant understood that Jeremy must have found a way to verify it himself and obtained satisfactory results.

He became interested. "What about the third batch?"

Jeremy shook his head. "The third batch hasn’t shown results yet, but so far, it seems similar to the second batch, at least in terms of growth time."

"Has the quality of the cotton changed?" Lorant asked in detail.

The person being questioned looked puzzled. "Quality? I’m not sure, it should... not have changed?"

He turned to his assistant, who was always by Jeremy’s side. The assistant stepped forward and smiled at Lorant. "There’s almost no change in quality. We’ll see if the third batch of cotton that will bloom tomorrow differs significantly from the previous ones."

"Based on our calculations, the density of the cotton balls and the thickness of the fibers will decrease to varying degrees. We’ll see how well they can maintain their state."

The assistant spoke slowly.

Lorant nodded and asked the assistant again, "How are the candy rabbits and slimes doing?"

Originally, Lancelot had prepared a new area to operate as a cotton tree farm. But one night, while watching the candy rabbits dozing under the cotton tree in his backyard, Lorant suddenly realized something.

The cotton tree is a plant! And its canopy is very broad, like a huge, disproportionate umbrella.

Although the trunk is also quite thick, there is still plenty of space under the tree.

Ruth and Martha now enjoy chatting under the cotton tree, often moving a recliner and spending the whole evening there.

So Lorant thought, could the cotton tree coexist with the pet slimes and candy rabbits?

He decided to leave the upper space for the cotton tree and the lower space for the pets to move around, potentially achieving the growth of two species in the same area!

After all, systems like mulberry fish ponds achieve the best biological cycles, right?

So Lorant asked the church to try it out and provided a batch of candy rabbits and pet slimes.

"The two types of pets are adapting well. The candy rabbits love the cotton tree and often run up into the canopy to hide, which might be a problem, but it doesn’t seem to be a major issue for now," the assistant replied. "The pet slimes are also doing well on their own."

"However, these two types of pets don’t seem to get along and often fight."

Lorant twitched his lips. The talk of not getting along and frequent fights was likely an artistic embellishment. Most likely, the temperamental candy rabbits were bullying the pet slimes unilaterally!

Lorant had seen the temper of these creatures; sometimes, these large rabbits would even gang up to fight the wind horses.

Then they would be chased around the yard by the equally ill-tempered wind horses and retreat in defeat.

But they would continue the next time.

These guys were like the aggressive ones among pets, daring to provoke anyone.

Regardless of whether they could win, they would fight first!

However, the other pets in the Animal Pet Shop couldn’t match them, so they eventually had to settle down.

But in the church’s ranch, these guys had no ‘natural enemies’ and could bully the pet slimes freely.

Fortunately, these pets are naturally friendly to humans, so they generally won’t attack humans unless provoked excessively.

But when it comes to other pets, they have no such qualms and attack each other fiercely, as if determined to knock out the other’s teeth.

Lorant had no solution and could only shake his head helplessly. "We’ll have to separate them for now. Later, we can plant cotton trees in both the Slime Ranch and the Candy Rabbit Ranch for better management and utilization."

It’s better not to mix these two types of pets.

Jeremy nodded, trying hard to join in the conversation.

However, the cotton tree can wait a bit longer, but the establishment of the Candy Rabbit Ranch is urgent.

The number of candy rabbits has increased to a terrifying extent. Now, the entire town is overrun with these creatures. If this continues, Lorant fears they will outnumber the wind horses.

Even more frightening is the thought of what would happen if these creatures successfully defeated the wind horses once. They would become even more arrogant...

So it’s best to move them out as soon as possible. Lorant plans to keep only a few of his favorite ones at home.

With this plan, it means the processing procedures for candy rabbit products need to be completed quickly.

Liszt has been working overtime to complete this task, giving himself enough time to train.

He has already made the basic instruments and is waiting for the final refinement.

Of course, Liszt also completed the candy rabbit guidebook. He similarly finished the guidebook for the floating octopus, though he doesn’t understand why Lorant still values this ‘failed’ pet so much.

Lorant was satisfied and bound all the artificial guidebooks together. Unlike the promotional guidebooks used in the Animal Pet Shop, these crystal guidebooks made by Liszt are for Lorant to preserve and collect.

He flipped through the now thicker guidebook again, said goodnight to the Dream Weaver, and the baby quickly took the guidebook, placed it by the bedside, turned off the light, and went to sleep peacefully.

The next day, the temporary teleportation array lit up above the backyard of the Animal Pet Shop, and all the Candy Rabbits were transferred to the ranch prepared by Lancelot.

This place will now operate as the first Candy Rabbit Ranch.

However, unlike the Slime Ranch, the Candy Rabbit Ranch does not need to process its own products. The sugar ears produced by the Candy Rabbits will be uniformly transported to a dedicated 'sugar ear' processing plant for processing.

That processing plant will become another important industry under the Animal Pet Shop. Lorant, who was short on funds to build the underground Mage Tower, did not plan to share the profits from this part of the business.

He would consider collaborating with others after he finished building the underground Mage Tower of the Animal Pet Shop.

Nia and Emma, two busy women, rarely appeared together, but they had been working tirelessly during this period.

However, both these strong women were willing to work overtime, showing no signs of wanting to escape their jobs like typical office workers.

They were eager to seize this opportunity to hone their skills.

Whether it was Nia, who grew through intense competition among servants, or Emma, who had a natural talent for seizing every opportunity to rise from the slums step by step.

Both understood that they had reached their current positions through their abilities and hard work.

Otherwise, as women of their age, they would have long been forced into marriage by their families.

Especially Emma, without today's achievements, she would probably have been arranged to marry someone who worked hard every day to earn money, drank heavily at night, and enjoyed beating his wife.

After all, over the years, Emma had seen many such cases.

She had secretly sworn that she would never be manipulated so easily!

Not even in death!

It was precisely because of this determination that Emma could grit her teeth and keep climbing the corporate ladder.

Sometimes, she also felt fortunate that her parents were relatively understanding. When she proposed to work and earn money, they managed to get her a job at the housing management office through connections.

Unlike the family next door, who directly sold their daughter for two gold coins to a temperamental leatherworker who had already buried five wives.

Otherwise, how could she now wake up every day in a large house that most people couldn't afford in their entire lives, lying on thick feather pillows, and have maids tidy up while she went downstairs to eat the breakfast she had prepared in advance?

After breakfast, she would apply beautiful makeup, wear the latest fashion measured in gold coins, spray the most expensive perfume, and start a new day at the shop where all professionals looked up to.

Moreover, both her parents and younger brother now treated her differently.

Her parents no longer urged her to find a suitable husband, and her younger brother became increasingly well-behaved.

The family had long moved out of the street filled with sewage and the stench of death.

To continue living this life, Emma was willing to dedicate all her time to the Animal Pet Shop and work diligently.

The two of them often discussed the development strategies of the platform, so their relationship seemed to improve on the surface, at least they could occasionally exchange smiles.

However, both knew they could not become true friends, at least not while working together at the Animal Pet Shop.

Seeing his two key subordinates working together, Lorant felt gratified, but his attention was soon drawn to something else.

In this Candy Rabbit Ranch, which did not require a factory, Lancelot set up a sizable tour garden.

Unlike the sales method for pet Slimes.

The sugar ears produced by the Candy Rabbits, after processing, will become their main product for external sales.

The biggest feature of this product is its variety, and compared to the fur and thick feathers of pet Slimes, the application range of sugar ears is much broader.

From intricately shaped candies that children love, to ordinary sugar.

To sweets and beverages, everything is available.

So, at Lorant's suggestion, an area showcasing the various uses of sugar ears was created here.

Later, when the corresponding factories are established, Candy Rabbit Houses will definitely appear in major cities.

For general household purchases, going to the Candy Rabbit House will be sufficient.

However, for large-scale collaborations, it is best to visit the 'exhibition hall' at the Candy Rabbit Ranch for a firsthand experience.

Yes, the exhibition hall.

Lorant built this area as a beautifully designed small garden.

Low shrubs enclosed a section of the garden along the edge of the ranch.

A wide covered walkway allowed visitors to tour the entire garden without being exposed to the harsh sunlight.

Various pavilions of different shapes were scattered throughout the garden. Some pavilions contained freshly picked sugar ears, while others held processed light-colored sugar powder.

There were lollipops and small fruit candies wrapped in oil paper.

These fruit candies came in rabbit head shapes, carrot shapes, and various fruit shapes.

The variety was dazzling when displayed together in dishes.

The newly arrived Candy Rabbits seemed quite at ease, hopping around the shrubs without any fear of people.

Invited guests were brought here. Although it was different from the high-end clubs frequented by these usually pampered nobles, the exquisite garden and the fresh air different from the city made the guests attending the opening particularly happy.

Especially the noblewomen invited by Ruth and Diana.

Wearing beautiful but heavy and intricate dresses, they chatted animatedly in the numerous pavilions, laughing and chatting merrily.

Lorant glanced from afar and quickly turned away.

In that brief moment, he noticed several young noblewomen looking at him with eyes that seemed to have little hooks.

Unaccustomed to such situations, Lorant decided to play the part of a turtle hiding in its shell.

Lancelot, on the other hand, was usually very adept at handling such scenes.

The most dazzling son of Holland’s earl, whether by choice or necessity, had grown up attending all sorts of parties.

But today, for some reason, his attention kept drifting to Lorant, making his conversations with others feel half-hearted.

Tsk, those young ladies he knew were practically trying to bore holes through the shopkeeper with their gazes!

Lancelot gritted his teeth in annoyance; he knew all too well how bold and forward these noblewomen could be.

He couldn’t let his shopkeeper fall prey to these wolves!

Seeing Lorant leave, Lancelot found an excuse to follow.